TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will start a tour of Oman on Monday which will also take him to Qatar on Tuesday.

His visits are within the framework of holding regional consultations, IRNA reported.

Zarif’s talks with the Omani officials are expected to focus primarily on the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, the news agency said.

Zarif and Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the Omani foreign minister, met in New York on September 22 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting.

Some media outlets also reported that Zarif, while in Muscat, will be joined by his counterparts from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to assess the opening of North-South transit route which will connect Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.

The proposal to establish the transit route was first proposed by Iran in 2010 and the sides agreed on it in Ashgabat in 2011. 

In his visit to Doha, Zarif and Qatari officials are also expected to discuss the challenges facing the region, especially the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar.
 
On June 5, Saudi Arabia, joined by the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and closed land, sea and air routes to the country under the pretext that Doha supports Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and have good relations with Iran. A few days later they set certain conditions to end the blockade including curtailing ties with Iran and closing Al-Jazeera network.

The Omani foreign minister who visited Iran in the aftermath of the blockade has remained neutral in the Qatar row.

NA/PA